CANYON

Cal Dive International, Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire 85 percent of Canyon Offshore, Inc., a supplier of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and robotics to the offshore construction and telecommunications industries. Cal Dive would purchase the remaining 15 percent at a price to be determined by Canyon's performance during the years 2002 through 2004. The purchase price from $66 million $74 million is four to five times expected Canyon EBITDA. The acquisition, which is subject to the customary
Hart Scott Rodino filing, is expected to close before year-end.
Owen Kratz, chairman and chief executive officer of Cal Dive, said, "Acquiring Canyon will be a vertical integration which flows from the CDI policy of directly controlling all aspects on the critical path of significant projects. As marine construction support in the Gulf of Mexico moves to deeper and deeper waters, ROV systems will play an increasingly important role."
John S. Edwards, chief executive officer of Canyon, stated, "CDI was our first customer when Canyon began operations in early 1997 and we have enjoyed the status of an Alliance Partner ever since. CDI seeks this strategic investment to secure key remote systems capabilities so critical to their future in deepwater construction and well intervention operations. Canyon's submarine cable burial business provides a platform for international operations and revenue diversification

PTSC Production Services and Canyon Offshore have entered into a two-year contract with BP Vietnam to provide a DP Vessel, Remotely Operated Vehicles, Survey and Positioning, and engineering solutions to support BP’s operations offshore Vietnam.
Under the terms of the contract Canyon Offshore in conjunction with Petroleum Technical Services Company (PTSC), a division of Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation, will mobilize Scorpion 25

Kvaerner reaches preliminary agreement with Canyon Ranch to build two luxury cruise ships, worth $397 million. Kvaerner, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the health resort company Canyon Ranch, of Tucson, Ariz., to build two luxury spa/health resort cruise ships. The two passenger vessels, each of about, 37,000 gross tons, are to be built by Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Finland, and are due for delivery in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Trico Marine Services, Inc., has taken delivery on the Northern Canyon, a 279-ft. UT 745 design platform supply vessel (PSV). The state-of-the-art vessel is designed to serve deepwater markets worldwide. Built in Norway, the Northern Canyon is equipped with a DP2 (dynamic positioning) system and is among the largest, most technologically advanced PSVs available in the industry. The vessel, which will be deployed initially in the North Sea

A unit of Williams has announced that it has commissioned a new production handling platform in federal waters approximately 60 miles south of Mobile Bay, Ala. Gas production from approximately 35,000 acres of federal leases is dedicated to the platform.
Construction of Williams' Canyon Station -- a fixed-leg platform in 300 feet of water in East Main Pass Block 261 -- was completed on schedule at the end of June. The jacket was installed in October 2001

NOAA releases new online views of Earth's ocean floor
NOAA has made sea floor maps and other data on the world’s coasts, continental shelves and deep ocean available for easy viewing online. Anyone with Internet access can now explore undersea features and obtain detailed depictions of the sea floor and coasts, including deep canyons, ripples, landslides and likely fish habitat.
The new online data viewer compiles sea floor data from the near shore to the deep blue

BP says it has made a significant oil discovery at its Gila prospect (which it co-owns with ConocoPhillips) in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico. This is BP’s third discovery in recent years in the emerging Paleogene trend in the Gulf of Mexico and reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to the US offshore region.
The Gila discovery was made by an exploration well on Keathley Canyon Block 93, about 300 miles southwest of New Orleans, in approximately 4,900 feet of water.

Naval survey ship 'HMS Enterprise' nets stunning images of a Grand Canyon-style ocean floor hidden deep under the Red Sea.
Discovering the 250 metre deep canyon after leaving the Egyptian port of Safaga the ship used her sophisticated EM1002 Multibeam echo sounder to create the 3D images, allowing the ocean floor to be seen for the first time.
Commanding Officer of HMS Enterprise, Commander Derek Rae, said: “These features could be the result of ancient rivers scouring through the

Apache Corp was not in breach of contract in a lawsuit brought by Houston-based oil and gas producer W&T Offshore Inc in 2011, a federal jury found on Monday, according to a court filing.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has accepted the jury verdict and W&T can file any post-verdict motions by Jan. 5.
W&T filed a claim against Apache in 2011, accusing the energy company of breaking the terms of a processing contract and inaccurately recording how

Because of the long timelines associated with Gulf of Mexico (GOM) projects, the recent downturn in oil prices is expected to have minimal direct impact on GOM crude oil production through 2016. EIA projects GOM production to reach 1.52 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2015 and 1

The first deep-sea exploration of the Perth Canyon, Australia's largest undersea valley, will launch today, Phys.org is reporting. The 12-day expedition is backed by Google billionaire Eric Schmidt and will study the conditions and marine life inside the canyon

Chevron Corporation announced an oil discovery at the Anchor prospect in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Anchor is Chevron’s second discovery in the deepwater Gulf in less than a year.
“The Anchor discovery, along with the previously announced Guadalupe discovery

NOAA and British Geological Survey make critical changes to World Magnetic Model to ensure accurate navigation
NOAA officials announced today the World Magnetic Model (WMM), a representation of Earth’s large-scale magnetic field and an indispensable complement to GPS devices used by

Chevron Corporation announced today that the Hess Corporation-operated Tubular Bells deepwater project, located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, has started crude oil and natural gas production. The field is located 135 miles (217 km) southeast of New Orleans, in approximately 4,300 feet (1

Statoil together with co-owners in the Stampede development in the Gulf of Mexicohas sanctioned the Stampede project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Statoil said it will invest $1.5 billion in the Stampede development, which is expected to begin production in 2018

Chevron Corporation announced today that its subsidiary, Union Oil Company of California (Union), has reached a final investment decision to proceed with the development of the Hess Corporation-operated Stampede project in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico

David Evans and Associates, Inc.’s Marine Services Division commissioned its new 82-foot hydrographic survey and scientific vessel Blake in a ceremony held in the vessel’s homeport of Gulfport, Mississippi.
At the ceremony, U.S

Crowley christens new ocean class, DP2 tugboat, Ocean Sun, in Louisiana
As part of the company's new vessel build program, Crowley Maritime Corp. christened the latest of its four tugboats in the ocean class series, Ocean Sun, today in Lake Charles

On September 14, five Signet Maritime ASD/Z-Drive tugboats, the SIGNET ENTERPRISE, SIGNET RELIANCE, SIGNET MAGIC, SIGNET WEATHERLY, and SIGNET VOLUNTEER successfully completed the Towout of LLOG’s DELTA HOUSE semisubmersible production facility to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

SBM Offshore is pleased to announce it has signed a Production Handling Agreement (PHA) with Noble Energy to produce the Big Bend and Dantzler fields to the Thunder Hawk DeepDraft (TM) Semi located in 6,060 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

Technip was awarded by Deep Gulf Energy II LLC a lump sum contract for the development of the Kodiak field, located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 727 and 771, in the Gulf of Mexico, at water depths ranging from 1,472 meters to 1,710 meters.

Statoil has completed the Martin well in US Gulf of Mexico and the Dilolo well in the Kwanza basin in Angola.
US Gulf of Mexico
Statoil announces a small discovery in its Martin prospect located in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Statoil does not consider this to be a commercial

Helix Energy says that its Robotics subsidiary, Canyon Offshore, Inc., has reached an agreement with a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc. to provide remotely operated vehicle (ROV) services and equipment for McDermott’s fleet of subsea construction and pipelay support vessels.

Salvage work to remove a capsized rig lying in shallow waters offshore from Angola's new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant should be completed by March 2015, the company in charge of the operation said.
The three-legged Perro Negro 6 drilling rig overturned last summer as it was being